In ';Mount Cargill', a poem in Maurice Whelan's book Excalibur's Return, he described running up Mount Cargill in New Zealand with Richard O'Neill-Dean, to whom that volume was dedicated. Richard responded to Maurice's latest collection, Spirit Eyes, with a poem of his own, after discussing how Maurice sets about crafting a poem and the importance he attaches to a central thought or idea upon which the poem is constructed.Shipwrightfor Maurice Whelan, poetHe might look out the odd plank,let it season slowly,covered from the rain,so that frames, ribs, stringers,in the imagination, slowly form,the particular twist or warp or grainof a thoughtfavouring the idea of a hull,sensitive to wind and wave,to keep out storms,to manage strains.But, beyond all, the keelson,massive, strong,it must permit of no bend,take long keel-bolts,going down through heartwood,to fasten the lead weightof a real thought,many tons,to keep a good poem upright,and carrying on,tied in tight, to bindall between the sweet linesof its stem and stern,to make a fine entry,to set its wakeupon the oceansof the mind